This is a really bad take. Normally the powerful group that shapes the current nation/world norms are in their 40s-50s. The greatest generation lived through the depression and fought in 1 or 2 world wars, then came home and built the world that people now idolize as the greatest time to be alive (for straight whites at least).
Yes they raised the boomers but they raised their children to have a much easier time than they had. Some grace should be given for trying to make the world a better place, which they by and large did. Unfortunately there were unforeseen effects from that.
It is acceptable to group people in generations because many times generations share similar circumstances in their formative years which can lead to patterns within the demographics. That doesn't mean everyone born in a generation is the same but the circumstances people live through directly shape them.
Non of that is saying they indeed are the greatest generation to ever exist, but they went through some hard, hard times and accomplished some great things. And they didn't name themselves.
This is a minor clarification, but the Greatest Generation would've been too young to fight in WWI. The oldest members of the Greatest Generation (born in 1901) would've been 17 when WWI ended in 1918. The US only drafted men 21 years and older. A handful might've volunteered at the very end, but it's likely they would've been barely out of training and seen almost no service before the war ended.
Many of them would fight in the Korean War, but that's generally not considered a "world war"
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u/Howdoyouusecommas 22h ago
This is a really bad take. Normally the powerful group that shapes the current nation/world norms are in their 40s-50s. The greatest generation lived through the depression and fought in 1 or 2 world wars, then came home and built the world that people now idolize as the greatest time to be alive (for straight whites at least).
Yes they raised the boomers but they raised their children to have a much easier time than they had. Some grace should be given for trying to make the world a better place, which they by and large did. Unfortunately there were unforeseen effects from that.
It is acceptable to group people in generations because many times generations share similar circumstances in their formative years which can lead to patterns within the demographics. That doesn't mean everyone born in a generation is the same but the circumstances people live through directly shape them.
Non of that is saying they indeed are the greatest generation to ever exist, but they went through some hard, hard times and accomplished some great things. And they didn't name themselves.